I recently went on a huge Survivor binge. After watching 16 seasons in a single year, I would consider myself highly qualified to rank each season. This is obviously based on my personal biases, but I did include my opinions of the contestants, gameplay, and twists. There were some seasons I couldn’t find without paying for them, and so those are not included in the rankings. At some point along the way, I realized it was nearly impossible to watch all 45 seasons and made the ultimate decision to post this early. I will update as I watch more. There are 23 seasons ranked and 23 unranked.

* marks a season with at least one returning player

Seasons not included in the list are: 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 26, 27, 29, 30, 31, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40

23. Redemption Island (Season 22)*

The game itself was predictable from start to finish. They brought back two former players to act as “captains” of their respective tribes and then added a “twist” where you can compete to come back in the game. This had the potential to be interesting, but at the end of the day it resulted in a season with less than zero gameplay or strategy. I wanted to melt into the earth and found myself tuning out long portions without actually missing anything important.

22. Gabon (Season 17)

This was a bad season! Gabon was such a mess, and most of that comes down to casting. The winner was one of the weakest ever, and the entire season was dull from a strategy perspective. The upside for this season is that it has some very strong personalities who enjoyed stirring up drama. The downside is that most of these personalities were either racist or cruel or both.

A lot of people tend to like this season because it was so… not Survivor, but I couldn’t get behind the bad guys the way I normally do and that made me hate this season.

21. Survivor 43 (Season 43)

As the third new era season, it was the first where contestants had watched a new era before heading out to compete. This meant none of the twists and turns were surprises for the viewers or the players, and the season suffered as a result. There were lots of sweethearts on the cast but the drama was lacking on the whole. 

You’ll get a backstory on all of the members of the cast, and there’s a couple of players who I’d like to see play again under different circumstances, but 5 years from now I can’t see myself remembering a single individual episode. 

20. One World (Season 24)

There are so many racists this season that it’s very hard to rank objectively. I’m sure I would have ranked this season higher were it not for that. The game is an introduction to one of strongest strategic players and alliance builders in the history of Survivor, and it was a pleasure to watch her play.

The concept of “One World” (both tribes share a beach) was neat and I’d love to see it done again in the future, but that combined with the gender division of tribes meant that it stayed segregated and didn’t result in much added drama.

19. South Pacific (Season 23)*

The post-merge part of this game was exhausting. It was incredibly predictable, and people missed out on making moves that would have almost certainly taken them further. This is once again a Redemption Island season, which I am not a fan of. People who get voted off should be forced to stay at home! Hang out at Loser’s Lodge like the loser you are.

One of the returners tried to pull off the same strategy as a returner in Season 22, but having already seen it play out (and better) made it boring. There’s some good characters here that I’d like to see play on other seasons, but for some reason there haven’t been a ton of returnee seasons recently.

18. Nicaragua (Season 21)

A lot of people hate this season, but I’m in the minority here. The way I feel about Nicaragua is how a lot of the rest of the fandom feels about Gabon. It wasn’t ~good~ but somehow that made it good. There were a couple of quitters which dramatically changed the post-merge game and likely impacted the ultimate winner, so if that will upset you I wouldn’t watch that season. That being said, I found the cast entertaining and the gameplay was decent enough. These are some of the most iconic characters ever. I am truly obsessed with them.

17. Africa (Season 3)

The pre-merge part of this season was dominated by fighting between two groups—the young and the old. Entertainingly for today’s viewers, the “young” are Gen-X, and it was funny to see people talk about Gen-X the same way that generation currently talks about Millennials and Gen-Z. This season featured the first ever tribe swap that created an overall interesting game despite the brutality of the African environment.

16. Survivor 41 (Season 41)

Season 41 is the first of the new era seasons, and you’ll notice a marked difference from before Covid. First, the seasons are only 26 days. This was originally because of Covid protocols, but it looks like it’s here to stay. Aside from that and the severe lack of food that resulted in very short challenges, this season was very fun. There were alliance shakeups, and there were too many twists but I don’t think it impacted the gameplay as much as I was afraid it would. 

Everyone was playing hard and the cast was incredibly good. You could tell they had an extra year due to Covid to really find the best possible people. If there is an All-Star season for 50, I would expect 41 to represent. This was the 2nd new era season I watched (after 45) and I can definitely see where people are coming from about not having enough time to flesh out the cast and narrative arcs in just a one hour episode.

15. Samoa (Season 19)

If you know anything about Samoa, you know that this entire season was dominated by one person. They had a very aggressive and “villainous” style of play. Other than that, there wasn’t anything entirely spectacular about the season, but for me personally that person and the twists they brought was enough to keep me entertained throughout.

I would not recommend this season if you’re looking for something particularly unpredictable, but I would as an introduction to one of the most influential players in Survivor history.

14. The Australian Outback (Season 2)

Watching The Australian Outback was so fun just from the perspective of seeing where the game evolved from. It opens with a description of each character and an explanation of how they’ll always wear the colors of their tribe!

That aside, Jerry is iconic and watching made me miss the life of an old school villain. A couple other players come back for later seasons as well. It obviously doesn’t live up to some of the seasons once they figured out the concept of strategy, it’s worth watching purely to see Survivor‘s humble beginnings. The interpersonal drama certainly doesn’t hurt.

13. Philippines (Season 25)*

This was such a good season! A couple of previous players who were med-evac’d in previous seasons were brought back, but for the most part it was all new players. The new players were incredibly dynamic, with a great cast of heroes and villains. There was great gameplay from the eventual finalists, leading to a few votes where I truly did not know who was going home. The winner most definitely deserved it, and the (majority of the) final four got where they were off of their own merits.

12. Survivor 42 (Season 42)

Survivor 42 recovered from many of the editing mistakes of Survivor 41. There was far more character development and I actually feel like I know the majority of the cast. And what a good cast it was! There was a group of strong, funny women on this season and I truly never knew where the vote was going.

The challenges were pretty repetitive from Season 41, but otherwise it was an incredible season dictated by a lot of under the radar players making big moves at big times.

11. Borneo (Season 1)

The season where it all began! It’s hard to rank this objectively because, well, it was the first. Things are obviously different than they are now (or even by seasons 2 and 3) but there’s something beautiful about watching how it started. Borneo pioneered the first ever alliance and gave rise to quite a few players that are still remembered fondly today. Oddly enough, it also manages to be one of the more groundbreaking (positive) seasons of LGBTQ+ representation despite the ridiculously high use of slurs (negative). 

While the challenges are boring and hard to follow given that there’s no narration from Jeff, getting to see camp life and the increased focus on survival was fun especially after suffering through all of the new era seasons.

10. Cagayan (Season 28)

This season is so incredibly beloved, and while I deeply enjoyed it I don’t quite get why. There’s so many dramatic moves that are made, but I just find the cast fundamentally unlikable. It’s a bit like a few of my lowest ranked seasons where one person controls everyone, but at the very least this person keeps things interesting. I do like a couple of the people who play on this season, and six play again, so that alone makes it worth watching especially if you’re going to embark on a journey of the 30s.

9. Survivor 45 (Season 45)

This was the first season I watched live after a long hiatus, and let me tell you it was well worth it! There may be some degree of recency bias, but literally all of the jurors are memorable characters, and it was fun to watch a showmance that managed to feel real without dominating everything that happened over the course of the season. I would love to see a few of these players return for all-stars.

8. Cook Islands (Season 13)

The first season of my Parvati Shallow binge watch. Other than getting introduced to Parvati, Penner, Yul, and Ozzy for the first time, not much of note happened. The game was pretty boring pre-merge, and then there was a bit of drama in the middle only for it to settle right back down. I would say the characters we meet in this season make it worth a watch at some point, but it isn’t the most exciting game play in the world. This was also the infamous “race wars” season—four tribes divided by race to start the season. While this was obviously a dumb concept, it led to great diverse casting that we won’t see again until nearly the modern era.

7. Millennials vs Gen X (Season 33)

This is probably one of the strongest cast of newbies in the history of the show, and it’s a shame that they only had two chances to come back to the beach and compete—one of which was directly after this season. The conceit of the season was that castaways were split into two groups, Millennials and Gen X. A tribe swap and division among original tribes leads to an interesting pre and post merge characterized by domineering personalities on all sides.

6. Survivor 44 (Season 44)

I’m obsessed with how quirky and fun this season was. I’ve heard that in recent years even seasons are more “silly” and that certainly holds true here. There are a few true stars in this season that I truly hope I get the opportunity to see play again. On the production side, silly twists and lost votes took away some of the tension and excitement, but it wasn’t nearly as frustrating as in 43 because of the cast. The contestants played their hearts out and casting deserves an Emmy for the people they put on the beach.

5. Kaôh Rōng (Season 32)

Kaôh Rōng, also known as Brain-Brawn-Beauty 2, was a solid season from beginning until the very end. I think the winner was most definitely skewed by a bitter jury, which hurts a bit, but at the end of the day I’m watching more for the strategy that gets them there than what the jury ends up doing. The strategy, competition, and general gameplay was fun to watch and I enjoy the way the tribes were broken down. It wouldn’t have gone down the way it did without the medical evacs, but it’s still a great season.

4. Tocantins (Season 18)

I’m a huge fan of Tocantins, and you’ll notice that it’s higher on my list than most of the other ranked lists out there. The cast was incredible, with a plethora of big personalities, all of whom actually knew how to play the game. It’s a great season for anyone looking for an entry for Survivor, and many of these contestants come back for future seasons. No other season has such a fun and dynamic cast. If you’re looking for a solid season of survivor full of twists, likable players and even more likable villains, this is the season for you.

3. Pearl Islands (Season 7)

This is one of the best seasons to watch hands down. Multiple people on this season are now household names in the Survivor community and come back to play in future seasons. The Pearl Islands has a pirate theme, and they stick with it the whole way through, which makes for engaging challenges and an overall exciting season. The post-merge part of the game is far from predictable, with players turning on their alliances to better their position left and right. The winner is incredibly deserving, which makes it all worth it.

2. Heroes vs Villains (Season 20)*

Do not watch this season first! Or second! Or third! You need to watch all of the key players’ original seasons (2, 7, 16, 18, and 19 at least) and then this will be one of the best you’ve ever seen. As you’ve probably guessed from the title, a group of returning players are divided into two groups: Heroes, and Villains. And honestly, they did a great job of breaking up the tribes! Some of the best of the best are back and ready to battle it out.

This is the glory days of idols, when they were used and needed to be strategized about, but weren’t so frequent that they were overpowering. There’s a strong alliance in this game, but things definitely shake up. We get iconic lines and iconic performances from so many of our favorites. It’s hard to compete with a season filled with the people who made seasons 1-19 so good!

1. Micronesia (Season 16)*

Micronesia, also known as the original Fans vs Favorites, was such a fun season! I admittedly had only seen about half of the favorites play before watching this (yes, I did watch every single season and still manage to do it out of order) but that didn’t take away from my ultimate enjoyment.

There’s a strong alliance in this game that takes over, but they manage to do it in an incredibly fun way that keeps you on the edge of your seat the entire time. It also has some of the funniest one liners and quotable moments in the history of the game. The women in this season are some of the best women to ever play the game—both in terms of skill and personality. Micronesia is a must watch, but I highly recommend watching Panama, Cook Islands, and China first just to meet the returning players.

What are your favorite seasons of Survivor?